Fake interruptions
by SilviaLace
Summary: This story is about dealing with feelings and accept the thought of being in love.You'll see a different Ron, Hermione's fears and a growing passion...Just read it and tell me if you like it!
1. Chapter 1

The grounds surrounding Hogwarts were strangely empty for a sunday afternoon.People usually used to sit on the grass, chatting and playing and just having fun,but today, maybe because of the icy wind of those days, the outside of the castle was unusually desert.

It was october, school had already started, and the common room was overcrowded with people absorbed in their books, playing chess in front of the fireplace or reading a magazine sitting on the sofa.But Ron was not in the mood to stay in an overcrowded place, so he headed to the lake and sat under the beech where he, Hermione and Harry had shared many beautiful and happy moments.Ron though, wasn't particularly feeling happy today.

On the contrary, he felt really stressed.In the last few days he was feeling rather alone, despite the beautiful summer he had spent at the Burrow with family and friends: the wedding of his brother and the great amount of time he had spent with Harry making theories about the whole Voldemort thing.Even though they laughed and talked every night in the common room, Ron could see how much Harry was focused on what to do with his enemy, and that Hermione was always here and there studying and reading, or reading and studying, whatever it was...

Ron felt tension increasing between him and his two dearest friends in those days, and it was not because of the study, but because of something else.When they were together, they barely talked to eachother.Like everyone else at school, they seemed to be bringing a very heavy burden inside.Aparrently, the old Headmaster had been more than just a headmaster and everyone was missing him, even those who were not so glad to have him at school.So, being in touch again with what he represented, or had represented, made feel everyone a little bit uncomfortable.In fact, this subject was out of bound, even for Harry and friends.And Ron felt the particular need of being left alone, breathing at the open air.

Now he felt the cold air running through his ruffled hair.He brought his knees against his chest and he started enjoying the sensation the wind made him feel on contact with his freckled skin.

-Hey, you okay?-Hermione asked sitting beside him, looking into his eyes with a worried expression on her face.He greeted her with a weak smile not saying a single word, then he started staring at the lake again.

-I'm fine thanks...just tired of sitting in there with all the others, you know...- he added unwillingly.

-In fact, I was wondering where you'd gone but couldn't find you...so I came down here to check if the red-haired man with the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen was here, thinking that I am an irresponsible kind of friend for letting him alone all this time when he's needing me the most...-

-I do not...-he started gasping, his jaw dropped, both in confusion and in surprise.How the hell had she found out how he was feeling if he hadn't expressed his own feelings to anyone except himself?Sometimes he really thought that Hermione was not so normal after all, and that she possessed some kind od dark and misterious power which made her know everything.

-Yes you do Ron!And you can be mad at me.I've been pretending to be busy all the time but actually,I was not.I did this because I knew that I couldn't stand talking to you and Harry, it was just too early.This whole process of coming back to school after what happened at the end of last year, makes me feel so uncomfortable, excited but sad at the same time.I understand how you feel Ron, really, so just don't pretend to be okay because I know you're not.And talk to me instead of coming here all alone in the cold air without saying anything to me or Harry.I was not exactly happy when I couldn't find you anywhere, you know...-

Ron mumbled something that sounded like "I'm sorry", guiltily bit his inferior lip and hid his head between his legs.At the end, he had been very selfish thinking that his two best friends were not worried about him and his recent behaviour.They were going through this difficult and new situation too, he was not the only one to suffer whenever he looked at the castle...

-There's no need to feel sorry Ron!-and she sweetly started stroking his hair with her fingers.When she took her hand away from his head, trying to stand up, Ron caught hold of her wrist.

-No!Don't stop doing that!It was...-

-Relaxing, was it?-she continued.

Ron nodded, but thought that "relaxed"was not exactly the way he was feeling.He was amazed by the sensation that touch had caused in him, a pleasant sensation though, of warmth all over his body...He shivered.

-Ron?You here?-she asked trying to get eye contact with him.-My hand, I'd like to have it back if you let me...-

-Oh, sure!Sorry, I was just thinking.-he said, unsure if that was the right answer to give, feeling her staring at him so closely.

-Well, we better get going or we won't eat a single thing!You hungry?-she asked helding out her hand to him.

-I can do it on my own.-he said jumping to his feet and cleaning his trousers from the leaves.The tone of Ron's voice seemed to Hermione unusually but truthfully bitter..

-Oh, okay...-she answered putting her hands inside the pockets of her jeans, and starting to walk towards the castle.

Ron watched her for a while before starting to walk himself.Her hair was flying all over her face because of the wind but she didn't seem to care and kept walking.Outside the castle the sun was hiding beside the trees and lot of noise was coming from the inside.People were already heading back to their common rooms.

In fact, the great hall was almost empty when they sat at an empty table.Harry was nowhere to be seen.

During their brief dinner, Ron didn't say a single word, and Hermione couldn't help noticing that he was not eating but he was just playing with his fork...this only happened before a quidditch match...But tonight she was too tired to start a conversation, that also seemed a very bad idea considering Ron's mood.So they silently left the table and they made for the common room, where they decided it was better for the both of them to go to bed and relax.


	2. Chapter 2

Next morning, Hermione was waiting for Harry and Ron in the common room to go to breakfast all together, but the guys were not there yet. She waited around for ten minutes, then decided she'd better get going all alone, they probably had forgotten it... But when she got into the room, Harry was already eating at a nearby table with Ginny...Ron on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. She waved at the couple passing by, but sat far from them. She knew they needed to talk...But she needed to talk too for God's sake!

She couldn't help but notice that she had always been occupied in worring about Ron and Harry lately, but that on the other side, no one seemed to care for her...

Once in class, she thought that maybe she just had to explain and clarify her problems and doubts to the guys, but they both didn't seem in the mood to talk...So what was she supposed to do?Pretend to be alright all the time?No way!

So she frantically wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to Ron who stared at her in confusion, like puzzled, before opening the message. Since when Hermione wrote messages during lesson?

"You okay?" it said. Ron read and reread it a few more times before starting to scribble something on it too. Though not looking at him, Hermione took the message and opened it.

"Yeah" this was Ron's very articulated answer.

Hermione could not believe her eyes. She was just trying to be nice to him and understand him, and that's what she got: a rude answer. She picked up her quill and she wrote as fast as she could, forgetting everything about the lesson.

"Hey, what's the matter with you Ron? Do you really think that I deserve that kind of answer? I was just trying to be kind and comprehensive, that's all. What's wrong with you? Yesterday evening I noticed that you didn't eat at all, and tomorrow morning, at breakfast, you didn't even show up...If I'm not mistaken, we were supposed to meet in the common room to go to breakfast all together...Look, I 'm just trying to be your friend Ron, but actually, you seem to be pushing me away...PS. I repeat. That was a very rude answer..."

Ron's jaw dropped in astonishment. Was she kidding him or what? He was not pushing her away! Okay, maybe she was right about their meeting before breakfast, but what about last night at dinner? It was not her business what he did!

And even though he saw Hermione looking at him, he made the piece of paper into a ball and then, as not happy of what he had done, he cut it into tiny pieces causing Hermione almost to fall from her chair. But the bell rang, and before she had the time to pick up her things and get to talk to him, he had already left the room at high speed.

Hermione stormed out of the classroom, as angry as ever, trying to find out reasons for not punching him in the face.

Suddenly Harry appeared beside her looking rather happy.

"I guess you're on the verge of an explosion because of something..." he smiled.

"Oh, Harry! I'm sorry, I was just...thinking..."

"Well, actually I thought you were fuming!"

"Have a wild guess!"

"Ron..." he smiled again, putting a comforting and understanding hand on her shoulder. "You better get going Hermione, or you'll be late for next class. I'll talk to him later this evening if you want me to, just to figure all this out okay?"

"Will you?Really?"

"Of course I will. So, see you later."

"See ya Harry " she said hurring to her lesson.

And Harry began looking for Ron. Unfortunately, his friend nowhere to be seen and just when he was about to give it up, he met him on his way back to the common room. He seemed to be thinking hard, so hard that he pratically wasn't looking where he was going, and he crashed into a wall in front of him. Harry appoached him.

"At least you didn't fall down the stairs..."

"Pretty lucky uh?"

"I feel a little bit of sarcasm in here. Am I wrong? Anyway, how are you? We two haven't really talked in the last couple of days."

"You're right mate. I've been better thank you. What about you?"

"I feel like someone is going to punch me in the face any time, but it's okay. So what happened during lesson? Hermione..."

"Did she send you over to talk to me? Typical!"

"No, she didn't! Don't draw the wrong conclusion! We talked, and actually she seemed really puzzled to me. Would you like to tell me what the hell happened between you two by any chance?"

"Between us? Us? Nothing, really!"

"Well, if this is your reaction, I can guess that something really happened...C'mon tell me!"

"Okay...it's just that...she's being so overprotected, acting as if she was my mother! She's also spying on me during meal times! She's getting crazy! I'm telling you mate!"

"Oh stop it, please! She cares for you, she's your friend Ron, someone you can go talk to, you know that, at least you should...Just look the way she cheered you up yesterday, by the lake, she's so amazingly sweet sometimes, you can feel it from the way she looks at you. Actually, I wouldn't have had the guts to do the same thing yesterday, because I saw you sitting there under the beech, but I still wasn't ready to come there and talk to you like we did in the past, and Hermione's best at cheering people up, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is! She's got healing powers..."

"I agree. So...can we go back to our usual relationship?" Harry asked holding out his hand to Ron.

"Of course mate" and they headed for the common room.

And everything was back to normal now, apart from something concerning Hermione, but Ron was feeling rather positive about the fact that she would accept his apologies. After all, Hermione was a friend...

He went to the library after lessons, but she was not there, then he looked into some of the empty classrooms and outside the castle too, but Hermione seemed to have disappeared. It was already eight o'clock when he climbed the portrait of the common room and saw her, at the far corner of the room, leaning against the wall, eating an apple with one hand, and holding a book with the other one. Nothing seemed to upset her, and Ron thought he had never seen her in such relaxed terms. Her thumb seemed to caress the old yellow pages while strange expressions croseed her face from time to time.

He got closer but Hermione was too much focused on her book to realise it. When he reached her, he leaned a hand to the wall beside her head and bent down in order to bite the apple she was holding. He bit it, causing her crash her back against the wall she was leaning against to. Having closed her eyes, she still hadn't realised what was happening, when something suddenly made her gasp. There was a particular scent...and even though she couldn't recognise it she felt like knowing who it belonged to. It belonged to someone she knew, someone like...


	3. Chapter 3

I just realized that I'd forgotten to insert a disclaimer, so here it is. I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and her publishing company. Etc. etc...

I want to thank the people who reviewed my story by now. It's goog to know that someone likes it...and most of all thanks for your advice! Sorry if I don't update regularly but school is keeping me busy right now...I just hope you like the story and enjoy it as much as I do! Read and tell me what you think okay?

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She opened her eyes, and two inches from her face, stood Ron, chewing the apple and smiling with pleasure at her bewildered face. She turned her face round and saw that his arm surrounded her completely, as on the other side, the wall blocked her passage...She had no way to escape from his excuses right now, even though she was dying to hear what he was about to come out of his mouth. She wanted to hear the words "I'm sorry", she wanted him to do a lot of things right now that her mind was going nuts.

"What are you laughing at? You scared me to death!"she whispered, massaging her back with the hand that was holding the book before it fell onto the floor.

"Sorry, didn't want to scare you!"he said moving even closer, but causing Hermione to breathe in deeply and to close her eyes, as not to be overwhelmed by those eyes.

But Ron wasn't speaking...

"At least, he could explain his behaviour of the morning"" she thought.

She opened her eyes, and there he was, intensely looking at her, scanning every little inch of her skin, as though looking for something. Finally their eyes locked, but Hermione was not going to play that ridiculous game anymore, so she looked away as quickly as possible, even if there was something in his eyes...something she could not explain with her own words...

"So, why are you here? You hungry now? Because, if you wanted my apple you could have asked! I promise I won't look at you while you're eating..."she paused, looking sarcastically satisfied with herself and placing the apple on the table.

"C'mon Hermione, don't get all huffy with me!"

"What? Guess who speaks! Well, I was not expecting you, as this morning, you cut my message into tiny little pieces and stormed out of the classroom as upset as ever,without saying a single word! Did it ever occur to you that I was trying to be nice to you? Actually I don't think so, especially after you treated me like you would have treated anybody else!"

"I didn't treat you that bad!"

"Yes you did Ron!"she said with a grin, crossing her arms and returning the gaze. She realised once more, that Ron was still looking at her, but this time she could not bare the silence, a silence that was deafening her, and words came incontrollably out of her mouth.

"Don't look at me that way.Not again..."

"Which way?"

"The way I'd like you to look at me..."She said so in such a realistic tone of voice, that Ron was taken aback.

"Forget it!-"she concluded, sneaking away from that uncomfortable and embarassing situation and picking up her book. But Ron had caught hold of her arm, making her book fell once again onto the floor, and causing people to stare at the two of them.

"Wait!"he said firmly.

"Ron, people are watching us!"she embarassingly whispered.

But he seemed to be on an other planet, his gaze fixed on Hermione, his hand squeezing her right arm tightly.And where were those eyes coming from?She couldn't even answer that question! The only thing she knew was that he was not Ron anymore, he had trasformed into something she could not deal with, and she couldn't bear the thought of it...

They were still looking at each other when Seamus appeared calling out for Ron, who let go of her arm and disappeared through the portrait hole.

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I hope you all enjoyed this third chap. even if it's a bit shorter from the other two...it just worked like this!

There's an other chapter coming soon don't worry!

Bye


	4. Chapter 4

Ok guys, I'm here again with an other chap.I don't know if everything's correct because I wanted to submit it as soon as I could so I hope it's ok.Tell me if there's something you like, you don't like, if you have doubts, whatever!Hope you like it...

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It was very late and Ron still hadn't come along to end their conversation. The common room was empty, the fire still crakling and Hermione was getting tred of waiting for him, especially because she knew that Ron had already forgotten it or that he preferred avoiding the subject completely.Suddenly the portrait hole opened and out of it, came the sound of giggles, followed by Ron and Lavender.They were laughing like two old friends.

Hermione's jaw dropped, she didn't know what to do anymore, she just sank into the couch even more deeper, looking at them unnoticed, desperately wanting to disappear.

But Lavender had spotted her, her and the most petrifying look she had ever seen...Ron realised that too and he did his best not to look at Hermione in the eyes, though feeling her trying to establish eye contact with him.He plucked up courage and looked up at her.

She looked deceived, betrayed, shocked.She wanted to shout at him "Not her, of all people..."

"Oh Hermione! You here! I was not expecting to find you here, it's so late and..."

"I know Lavender, it's very late!"she cut short, but it seemed she couldn't go on speaking anymore.Her voice harsh and trembling, her eyes glimmering in the darkening common room.

"Now I better go to sleep, you know, tomorrow's a busy day... "and she turned to face Ron again.He clenched his fists and she could easily feel the tension in his muscles.

"I just hope I didn't interrupt something guys...So, goodnight!"and without waiting for an answer, she stormed out of the common room at high speed, desperately trying to hide from them the tears that now rolled down her face, though not realising that Lavender was calling out her name.

"Ron, what's wrong with her?"

He didn't answer.

"Ron! Are you listening to me or what?" she said punching him on the right arm.

"Hey what are you doing?"

"I was just trying to wake you up! Don't stay there like a fish out of water and tell me! Was she waiting for you?And why was she crying?"

"Stop asking me questions!You sound like my mother! But...wait.Was she crying?"

"Didn't you see her?She couldn't even talk, and the way she was looking at you...You must have done something very nasty Ronald Weasley!Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Well Ron, seriously.If you didn't find it all out last year, then I'm not going to tell you now.So, it was good to be able to talk to you again, I'm glad we did because I had fun.Goodnight!" and she disappeared too.

Hermione was trying to hide her face in the pillow as deep as she could and she was still fully dressed and awake when Lavender got into the room.

He said things last year...he seemed to have forgotten them completely.He had forgotten what they had been through because of her! But maybe Ron had not figured out yet what was happening to her...

Next morning, Harry and Ron were talking about what had happened the previous night.

"So you and Lavender are..." Harry tried to look happy at the thought of his best friend and that girl being together an other time...

"No!Come on Harry! I'm not that stupid! She just needed a hand with her spell and she asked me to help her.That's it."

"And of all people, she asked you to give her a hand! Well, very smart indeed..."

"Ah ah, really funny! Actually, I was surprised too, seeing that she doesn't hate me for what happened last year, but it's quite cool being in speaking terms with her again!"

"Okay, and what about Hermione?"

"Yesterday evening, when I went to her to apologize, she was saying something about me looking at her in some way.But then I left with Seamus and I don't know what she was about to say..."

"What you're exactly saying is that you left her alone?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh Ron, what a great move! And then, what happened?"

"I got into the common room with Lavender and Hermione was sitting on the couch in front of the fire looking so angry...You should have seen her!"

At that moment, Hermione entered the Great Hall and took a seat next to Ginny without saying a word, barely greeting Harry.

"God please, not this again "Harry thought, feeling uncomfortable with the situation for the second time.He had had enough of it last year and he had thought that maybe the problem was solved, but as long as Ron and Hermione kept playing with eachother, there was no way to fix it.Ron was still talking...

"Then she stormed out of the room...crying! Get it?"

"Yes!But why are you so shocked?Didn't you see her last year?Come on Ron! The match, the snogging, the canaries...she was crying! But I guess you didn't see her, right?"

"No, I didn't! So you think she...I mean...that she aws crying because..."

"Listen, I don't know! Stop mumbling and go and ask her! Easy, isn't it?"

"Oh, very easy indeed..."Ron thought, anticipating that night's events.


	5. Chapter 5

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, I really appreciate it!

Anyways, this is going to be a really really interesting chapter, and I want to know whatever you think of it, good or bad as it can be ok?Have fun...

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Piles of books on the table and a scroll of parchment in her hands, Hermione was studying in the library.She was writing an essay for Potions, or at least she was trying to...She didn't seem to be concentrating too much on her work, as she stared at the essay with sad thinking eyes. Every now and then she paused , thinking that maybe, if she took a little break, she would have stopped seeing Ron and Lavender walking together into the common room. But it was no use, and she knew that if she kept on thinking about that damned scene on and on in her mind, she wouldn't be able to finish her homework. So she decided to have a walk outside, so that she could calm down a bit and decide if it was better for her to talk to Ron or simply avoid the subject. She already knew he was not going to talk about it in any case...

Just when she was about to stand up and start picking up her things, someone suddenly touched her right shoulder, and she turned round to see a smiling Lavender looking down at her.

"Hi Hermione. Do you have a second?"Lavender asked showing the whole library her new pink-forever lipgloss that glimmered at the sunlight.

In fact,a bunch of guys in the right corner of the room were exchanging looks of approval. Hermione decided to pretend she had not seen them and forced her to answer the best way she could, as Lavender wasn't exactly the person she would have died to talk to in that particular moment...

"What do you think? "she asked pointing at the books on the table.

"I saw you picking up your things and I thought you were leaving, weren't you?"she smiled even more deeply.

"Well, I was not! So,couldn't you please leave me alone with my homework?" she couldn't help it. When Lavender was around, the devilish part of her needed to surface.

"Oh come on Hermione!It's important!"she tried with an other smile of hers...It didn't work.

"Actually, I don't think it's more important than my essay right now, whatever it is!" and she bent her head down again onto the scroll of parchment.

"It's about Ron!" Lavender knew exactly what she had to say to draw her attention.

In fact, Hermione looked a bit lost at frist, but then picked up all her stuff and beckoned to Lavender to follow her. Once they got into the first unlocked classroom they found, Lavender began explaining all the situation:

"Listen, yesterday night..."she began.

"No, you listen! I don't want to hear this, it's none of my business and I don't want to be part of your "thing" with him! I mean, it really makes no sense...What's the point of even talking about it with me? You should talk to Ron or to your friend Parvati, not to me Lavender! Last year you treated me like the greatest bitch of the entire planet, do you remember that? But I'm not going to tell you that I feel sorry about it, you know our relationship has never been so great..."

"Then why are you here if you're not intrerested?"she asked maliciously, crossing her arms.

"Because you said it was important and that it was about Ron, so I thought that something had happened to him!"

"You've got it wrong then!"

"Fine!So now, if you'll excuse me, I have other things to do!" she said picking up her schoolbag and heading for the door.

"Hermione wait!If I thought this was not important, I wouldn't have come to tell you. Actually, I don't even know why I'm doing it, because I'll gain nothing by telling you this...Anyway, now I want you to sit down, shut up and listen to everything I have to say.Then you can go away and do whatever you want okay?"

For the first time in her life, Lavender looked serious...

"Okay..." Hermione answered compliantly sitting on the desk.She was dying to know everything about it, but at the same time, she didn't want to listen to a single word of it!She had just spent two hours in the library trying to get rid of that imagime of them printed in front of her eyes, and now, when she thought that those hours had not been so useless after all, her efforts vanished like fog.

"So, yesterday evening I was in one of the unlocked classrooms studing, and I was having a few problems with my homework, when Harry, Ron and Seamus came up there. I don't know why. Anyways, I took advantage of the situation and asked Ron if he could give me a hand, so at the same time I had the opportunity to talk to him. Don't pull faces at me Hermione, because what I'm just trying to say to you is that of course, I didn't chose Ron to help me because he's the best at Charms, but I just needed to talk to him and try to explain to him what I feel right now...Actually, Ron was very nice to me and even though he was a bit embarassed at first, as he thought that I was still mad at him, we had an interesting conversation and we understood that we both are over it.That's it.You better now?"

"Why should I be? I mean, I still don't get why you are telling me those things. I have nothing to do with it!"

"Seriously Hermione...I never liked you so much, and you know that. Things last year didn't certainly improve our friendship, but I'm a girl and I understand how you feel..."

"I don't think so.But if you do the tell me, why should I care?I really don't need all these explanations... "

"Oh, you do, because when a girl runs away crying after seeing her friend with his ex-girlfriend, there's always something going on..." Lavender could really become a consultant for teenagers with love problems.

"I was not crying actually..." she answered trying to sound normal, but she knew Lavender was right, damn right about everything, and she hated it!

"You were, my dear!And I had to tell him because he hadn't figured that out yet..." from the bewildered look on Hermione's face, Lavender knew that she had done something wrong, something that could cause even more problems!

"You told him?I can't believe it!" her expression was becoming more and more dark.

"I thought he had seen you crying too!I didn't do it on purpose..." Hermione knew Lavender was saying the truth,but this was not helping her.The mask she had worn for months in front of Ron and Lavender had been taken off.She had been unmasked.

"You know that Ron is a dork in this type of affairs, he wouldn't have seen me crying even if I was standing right in front of him!You should have known!You were his girlfriend, I thought you knew him, but I forgot that you two didn't spend so many time talking!" bitterness was overwhelming her.

"I'm sorry Hermione, I really am.And I thought I was helping you out!"

"You know what I feel for him Lavender, and you also know that I don't want him to know...Does it feel so horrible to shut your mouth just for a few minutes?What am I going to do now?"

"You should go talk to him, and if you don't want him to know what you feel, just tell him it was my fault, I won't mind!I'm feeling rather guilty...-

"That's the least Lavender!I'm freaking out..." Hermione said covering her face with her hands and causing Lavender to feel even more sorry for her.

"Is there something I can do?" she hopefully asked her.

"No, there's not a single thing you can do for me!" her mood was getting worse minute after minute.

"Okay, I think I'll leave.Good luck Hermione!"

She waited for an answer but nothing came out of Hermione's mouth, so she headed for the door and in a second she was gone.

Hermione still sat onto the desk almost lifeless.

How was she going to explain to Ron the fact that she was crying? She didn't want him to understand what she felt for him, their relationship was already enough complicated!She needed a plan, if only she had one...But she came up with nothing, and decided to wait and see what was going to happen.In the meantime, she would have finished her essay.

When she finally resurfaced from the books, she felt so satisfied with her essay that she didn't realise what time it was...Already ten o'clock, and all the students were now supposed not to leave their common rooms after thirty past nine! Filch had surely started to check the castle up and down, and he could come any minute.

She put everything in her schoolbag and made her way to the door, but when she was about to open it, the door swung open and there stood Ron, who immediately put his hand on her mouth to prevent her from letting out a cry, and then, when he was sure she wouldn't shout at him, he let her go.They studied eachother for a few moments, as not sure of what to say.The atmosphere of the other night was still present, you could cut it with a knife and when their eyes suddenly locked, no one dared to move or talk anymore, but they knew they were both thinking about what happened last night...

After a long embarassing silence, Ron spoke first:

"Where have you been? I've been looking for you for ages! Thank goodness Lavender told me you were here...What if Filch had found you first?"

"I would have figured something out!" she couldn't help but sounding a little bit annoyed, even though she was not.

"Sure! Let's go back to the common room before it's too late!" and he pushed her under the invisibility cloak he had borrowed from Harry without saying a word more, putting his right arm around her shoulders so that they could go faster without being seen.

They walked through the empty and dark corridors of the castle as fast as they could, trying to make the less noise possible. But when they were about to jump up the last staircase they heard footsteps coming closer and closer.Filch was approaching.What were they going to do know?Mr.Norris could have seen them even if under the invisibility cloak...Hermione wasn't even able to think as she was so close to him, his arms wrapped strongly around her, but Ron had an idea, and he suddenly dragged Hermione behind the big statue at the corner of the corridor. He pushed himself even closer to her, as to protect her if something went wrong, but also feeling rather comfortable... He could feel her breathing hard against his chest and her heart was beating so fast he thought it might explode any moment,so he couldn't help holding her hand, as to calm her down, as to say to her that everything was going to be ok.

"Everything will be fine okay?" he whispered in her ear letting go of her hand. She didn't say anything, she wasn't even able to speak, but her heart was answering him back, her beating was slowing down and her hands had made their way through their entangled bodies up until Ron's chest.

How was he going to concentrate on what to do if she was like that?Why did she have to put her hands there?This was pure fantasy!They quarrelled, then something dangerous happened and they found themselves practically stuck together without no possibility to escape, not that he wanted to...He was addicted to all their quarrelling and bickering thing, because however bad they were, they were the only thing that could make him feel closer to her, as she spent the rest of her time with her books or worrying about Harry!He felt as if he constantly had to do something to draw her attention, but this year things were different, he could easily feel it.She was behaving in a strange way and he consequently behaved strangely too.Since the beginning of their seventh year, the time they had spent apart was more than the time they had spent together; there had been no laughters, no smiles, not a single emotion.It wasn't fair!This was his last year with her and he had just realised that he...

Hermione was moving slowly under the weight of his body, her hands still on his chest, trying to free herself from his grip.It took some time for Ron to understand that Filch was already gone and that he was literally crushing Hermione.

"I'm so sorry!Did I hurt you?" he asked worried, but Hermione put a hand on his mouth.

"Hey!Do you want us to get caught?Filch could have heard you!- she resignedly whispered to him, pulling her hand away and also backing away a little.Again distance and silence had broken the connection they had shared minutes before.

"I'm fine, don't worry!Just let's go back to the common room now okay?"she added.

Ron nodded and picked up Hermione's schoolbag from the floor.They went up the stairs and got into the portrait hole, where they saw that someone was waiting for them.Harry was in fact walking to and fro inside the room and when he saw his two friends getting into the room, he felt extremely happy.

"It's about time!I was getting nervous!You know Hermione, Ron was so worried about you that he forced me to give him the invisibility cloak..." this last statement provoked two different types of reactions.

"Oh shut up!" Ron shouted at Harry, blushing violently from head to foot.

"But it's true!Okay I get it...I think I'll go to bed so you two can talk or do whatever you want!Night Guys." he said as he set off up boys' staircase, leaving Ron and Hermione to another few minutes of embarassing silence.Ron was dying to kill Harry for his inappropriate sense of humor, and Hermione was showing great interest staring at her feet.

"So..." Hermione began. "Did you really force Harry to lend you the cloak?"

"Yeah...I did."he started staring at his feet too.

"Then thank you!" she said standing on tiptoes and kissing him slightly on the cheek, making Ron open his eyes wide.He looked petrified, he just stood still, mouthing soundlessly like a goldfish out of water, and Hermione couldn't help but smile.

"Goodnight Ron!" she said picking up her schoolbag and heading for the girls' staircase.

"Wa-wait!Where are you going?" he mumbled.

"I'm going to bed.Where else should I go at thirty past ten?"

"Yeah, but we-we need to talk!"

"Talk about what?" she desperately tried to sound normal but she her hands were simply shaking nervously...

"Well, about us for example!" he added almost casually.

Hermione opened her eyes wide.


	6. Chapter 6

I'm so sorry for the delay guys!It's been a very busy month.I was totally freaking out as I had to study ten subjects for an oral exam.Now I can say that I really hate philosophy!But now I'm done and I'm back.I'm so sorry!

Anyways, I wanna say thanks to everyone who reviewed and if you have any doubt, question or whatsoever, just ask okay?And tell me if I make grammar mistakes, I'm truly obsessed with them because I always fear that you won't understand(and maybe sometimes it happens!) or that what I want to say is not so clear.Sometimes it is difficult for me to translate something that in english doesn't sound good or is not as i wanted it to be, (I never asked to be italian...)but I'm having fun writing my love story, this is how I think it should be! God if someone like Ron really existed...

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She kept staring at him, looking shocked and upset.

She had long felt sure he would have said those words, yet it was a lovely and terrible shock when he did.What was happening?All of a sudden, she had become the one who avoided him and he the one who wanted to talk and find a solution!

"What did you just say?" she asked thinking that maybe she had heard wrong...

"I was suggesting that we... we could talk about... about us!" Ron said more embarassed than ever.

The word "us" hit Hermione with strenght once again.She couldn't let him take that direction, not now, now that it had taken so long for her to establish some sort of peace treaty between them, now that she had found out reasons for fighting the feelingsthat were rapidly growing inside of her.She was afraid, afraid because she knew that if she received even the slightest part of him, she would have wanted more and more, but it was no good.One could probably ask her what was wrong with falling in love with someone and being together after so many time, but this was not someone, it was Ron, and she knew how things went extraordinary wrong when she was around him!And let's not talk about his reputation as a boyfriend...

Fighting her feelings back had been very difficult for four long years, but she was not going to stop now, even if her walls were starting to tremble...

No, she was not going to let him understand a single thing!

"Listen Ronald, as far as I can remember, in this room there is just "me" and "you"." she tried to stop her face from turning red but couldn't help it.

"C'mon Hemione.I'm just trying to take this thing seriously as mush as I can because I think it's important and we don't exactly spend time talking about it...And I still owe you an explanation, you know, for yesterday night." he raised his head up a bit so he could look at her, though not directly in the eyes.

"Seriously Ron, you don't!Lavender already told me what happened, and even if I still don't understand what am I to do with all your explanations...well...thanks!" the same excuse

"I think you needed to know what was going on between "me" and "her"! " he tried to make it clear this time that they were not together anymore.

"Well, you're wrong then!" she said trying to sound calm but clenching her fists behind her back.

"If I am wrong, why did you ran away like that yesterday?And why were you crying?"

"I...I... " Hermione looked a bit lost...What was she going to say now?

Hermione was desperately trying to find out what to do or say that could at least sound true or probable. Nothing. She closed her eyes as waiting for the bomb to explode right in front of her but nothing happened and Ron spoke.

"You know, I've been thinking about this whole situation lately, and I completely understand how you feel." he said though not sounding so sure about that...

"You do?" Hermione didn't know if this was a good or a bad conclusion...

"Yeah, I mean, you just don't want it to be like last year, when we two didn't talk anymore because of Lavender. But now it's over and...there's no need for you to be afraid of losing my friendship again. Everything's forgotten, trust me."

"Okay. Right.Is this all?"

"Yup, that's it! You can go now if you want, just tell me if everything's fine between us..."

"Yes, everything's settled. Can I go now?"

"Yeah, of course! Goodnight then."

"Goodnight Ron."

She set off up the girls' staircase, carefully closed the door of her room behind her back, and smiled. With just a few words, Ron had made her the happiest person of the planet. He had not betrayed her once again. He had not played the part of the indifferent person. He had wanted to explain what was going on because he had seen her upset!

Hermione felt incredibly happy. Her feelings were safe and Ron hadn't figured out a single thing. He had not even asked her about last night, about the moment before Seamus interrupted them. He had probably forgotten to ask her.

In fact, he had...

Next evening, the three guys had planned to have a meeting outside Hagrid's cabin, to talk about everything they wanted without being overheard from the others, thing that would have happened in the common room instead.Harry was late as usual, and the other two were patiently waiting for him to come, also because of the embarassing silence that filled up the night air...Ron was sitting on the grass, while Hermione stood against an old tree.

"The stars that encircle the beautiful moon tie all of a sudden the bright face when it shines round on all the earth..." said Hermione suddenly, hidden in the shadow of the tree.

"Hermione,what are you talking about?" Ron replied sounding annoyed.

"Ron, you're so insensitive!This is called poetry!Is it possible that you are not able to get the romantic aspect of life?Oh, I forgot!You're only capable of being afraid of everything and hurting me without knowing it, that's your problem!"

"Look who's speaking!The cold-and-numb-heart girl, who has no social life, who hides her face in the books she's so devoted to.Wasn't this what Trelawney said to you a couple of years ago?"

He was so happy having won their argument, that when he understood what was happening it was just too late...The bomb had been dropped.

"I didn't think you could go this far Ron..." Hermione's brave and bold voice had transformed in a tearful sob, and before Ron could apologize for what he had said, Hermione had already run away from his gaze, heading for the the lake...illuminated by the splendid plenilune...

"Bad move mate!" someone said hidden in the shadow of the tree.

"Oh Harry, it's you!You scared me...What were you saying?"

"You heard me.I said you exaggerated."

"You think?"

"Yeah.I've never seen Hermione having such a serious explosion, and because of what?Of your stupidity, so nothing apparently..."

"Actually I think it's been kind of normal!"

"Is this what you think?Well, let me tell you...it was not!Haven't you seen the expression on her face?She was just so upset I can hardly tell!Sometimes I wonder why you keep on ignoring the messages that your brain constantly sends you..." but he had to stop, or Hermione would have killed him in a very cruel way.

"What messages?And why do everyone always have to defend her?Does anybody care about me and how I feel?At the end, isn't this what we do every day?Our relationship is based upon our quarrelings, no one can say the contrary Harry!And I always protect her from Malfoy..."

"If I'm not mistaken, Hermione is always the one who protect you when you're in trouble and I also think that she's the only one who thinks so highly of you and your abilities.Maybe the time has come for you to think about how she's feeling right now, your words have certainly not been feathers...Think about it!"

Ron didn't know what to say right now.Maybe he couldn't speak because he knew that Harry was right about everything, he really was!He bent his head down, and Harry instantly knew he had understood what he had said to him.Sometimes it happened...

"I think I'll go now.There's no reason for staying here if Hermione's somewhere else now, and I don't think she's gonna change her mind soon...Goodnight Ron!"

"Bye Harry!" he said sadly sitting down on the grass still damp because of the recent autumn rains.He was feeling rather dizzy, and thinking about what had happened over and over, didn't seem to be helping him at all.

Meanwhile, curled up under a tree, Hermione was distractedly looking at the sky, obviously thinking about what had just happened, something unusually more violent and harsh than ever, at least for her...During the summer she had thought that maybe, after what they were going through and after seven long years of frequent quarrelings between them, he would finally grow up.A useless dream...When will he ever decide to grow up?Never, that was when!He was so childish sometimes!And why didn't she hate him right now for being such an child?She was so angry with him, but she didn't want to cry!

Unfortunately...tears bitterly began to roll down her cheeks...

Ron had just realised the time, but it took him some time to clear his mind up.He was still feeling rather confused and dizzy but within two seconds he had already reached the door of the common room, wanting desperately to go to bed soon, but before he could say the password to the Fat Lady, someone preceded him and pushed him aside in order to pass through the portrait hole.

Ron recognised Hermione's bushy hair headind towards the girls' staircase at high speed, so he reached her and caught hold of her arm.

"May I know why you pushed me aside?"

Hermione didn't answer.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Ron urged her.

Suddenly Hermione turned round and a loud big slap hit Ron's face.He felt shocked, but not as much as Hermione who still showed tears at the corners of her eyes.

"What's the matter with you?Have you been crying?Something Happened?"

Hermione thought that sometimes there's no limit to boys' stupidity and lack of astuteness...

"I have not been crying Ron!But what if I had?Nothing would matter to you...Are you asking me if something happened Ronald?Why don't you wonder how I feel when we're having a row instead?You don't have the slightest idea how I feel!And now let me go!" but Ron didn't slack his hold and looked into her eyes as if he was seeing her for the first time after seven years.Then he blushed violently, as though realising what he was doing, let go of her arm and she ran away upstairs without saying another word.

Three days later, Harry and Ginny were still trying to convince both Hermione and Ron to talk to eachother, as they kept on ignoring eachother pretending that nothing had happened.The situation was really annoying their friends, who ran back and forth from one to the other, at least to try and understand what exactly had happened between them, because no one knew except Ron and Hermione.Ron didn't even seem alive in those days, as he kept on dragging himself along, his head bent down, muttering things under his breath whenever Hermione was near, and Harry knew that his friend was feeling rather guilty for what he had said to her that night.On the other side, Hermione acted as though Ron was the most devilish being on earth and she didn't miss a chance to talk behind his back whenever he was around, knowing that he would hear.

Harry felt sad, the circle had been broken again and it just seemed impossible to mend it somehow.He had to find time to meet them separately so that no one had to sneak away during lunch, dinner or whatever, and during lesson Ron and Hermione had managed to find different partners for their homework, but Harry felt more or less like Cupid in those days...

One day, Ron was walking in an empty corridor when he saw Hermione walking in opposite direction, fullfilled with books and other stuff, having a little bit of problems standing still.Suddenly a group of giggling girls came walking beside her, and with shameless stupidity, they made her fall onto the floor, books too.None of them obviously helped her out, rather, they watched her with great satisfaction and amusement, but Ron was ready to take advantage of the situation...

"You okay?" he asked falling on his knees and helping her to pick up the books.

"Yeah, I'm fine!But I'll do this myself, I don't need help!"

"Sure?"

"Haven't you heard that I'm okay?"

"Hey!I was just trying to be nice to you!"

"Then don't!" she shouted, almost at the verge of tears, giving him a freezing look and standing up.

Ron couldn't help but feel startled by what she had said, and it took him a few seconds to realise that Hermione was already turning the corner and fading away.But he was not going to give it up without fighting this time...He ran towards the stairs and caught hold of her arm, causing the pile of books to fell onto the floor once again.

Hermione was certainly not going to let him have it all his own way, and she firmly kept on looking in front of her, because those eyes could make her feel so lost and dizzy that...

"Look at me!" he shaked her arm, putting himself right in front of her.Now she had no way out.

"Listen Hermione, tell me how I can fix this, because I just feel like I'm losing control..."

"Yes Ron, you're losing control of your own words!"

"I'm trying to figure out how to deal with you and..."

"Oh, very good indeed!Deal with me!There's only one way to deal with me Ron and it's very simple.If you want me to be really happy, then stay away from me, because whatever you'll do or say, I know that it'll hurt me deep inside.With your words, with your touch..."

Ron was taken aback: touch?What touch?Touch?

"But are you happy now?" he tried hard not to think of her last sentence...

"Yes, I am.Because you're not around!"

"Okay, I accept this, but if I look into your eyes right now Hermione, I don't see happiness...But if you assure me that your life will be better without me around you, then I'm off the hook..." he raised his hands, dried the tears that were starting to fall from Hermione's eyes and walked away without looking back, his hands in his pockets.


	7. Chapter 7

First of all, a special thank to Bardlover who's always been so nice to me since my very first chapter.My test went well, but unfortunately things are getting even more difficult and it's gonna be very hard to update more often!I'll update very soon I promise!I also want to thank all the other guys who are constantly telling me what they think of the story, thank you very much guys!

So, we ended last chapter in a very sad way, but the story goes on and this is THE chapter, so R&R!

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She was standing frozen on the stairs, thousands of images running frantically in front of her eyes. She could not beliveve that Ron had said those things to her just a moment before. It was over, it really was now, then why the hell was it hurting so much?Even after she had desperately tried to give up on him, to stay away from him so she could erase every bit of feeling she held inside.And now that it had happened, she couldn't bear the tought of it...

He had walked out of her life, three seconds had been enough for it to happen, and she had caused this, and he had accepted without further explanation.No, she couldn't let him go, not before having told him why she had taken that decision.

He had to know.

When she walked into the great hall that afternoon, Hermione saw Harry sitting at a nearby table with Seamus and Neville, and approached him.

"Can I talk to you just a second, please?" she asked hastily.

"Sure.Is everything okay?You look upset." he said while walking beside her through the empty corridors of the castle.

"I don't know what to do.For the first time i my life I really don't know what to do and I hate it!" she said almost on the verge of tears.

"Hey, Hermione!What's the matter?" he asked gently stroked her hair for support."It's Ron isn't it?"

"How do you know?That silly prat has already told you everything, hasn't he?"she stormed, looking as if she was about to lose her self-control any minute.

"He didn't tell me everything, he just told me what happened between you two, mumbling mostly.Anyway, he's in a very bad state right now, and you're too, so why don't you go talk to him?"

"And what am I supposed to tell him?That I'm the most irrational girl for letting him go away like that?"

"Oh for God's sake!Just tell him that you're in love with him!What's the big deal?"

"What?What are you talking about?I'm not gonna say something like that to him, especially if it's not true!"

"Come on Hermione, everybody knows that you two have been liking eachother from the very first year!Why do you think Lavender was so jealous of you?She knew what kind of connection ties you and Ron, it's just so simple...You represented her most dangerous enemy!"

Hermione stood there in silence, thunderstuck.Harry kept looking at her through his ruffled hair, not knowing what her first move would be, afraid of saying something more.Students passing by looked at the couple with questioning eyes, as they looked like ice statues.But Hermione regained her usual composure and wore a I-don't-wanna-talk-about-this look, which usually happened whenever her feelings and emotions were brought to light.

"I...I...I have to go... "her voice faded into the icy wind surrounding them and she disappeared inside the Great Hall once again, her hair still clearly visible.

She just hoped that Ginny was there...Oh, there she was, sitting among a bunch of giggling girls.

Practically ignoring the whole goup of girls, Hermione plonked herself right in front of Ginny wearing such a worried expression on her face that a holy silence instantly filled up the air.

"Does everybody know it?" she asked violently.

Ginny was more than lost at that moment, but the other girls seemed to find the event very interesting, as they all looked at Ginny with great expectation, looking for an answer or an explanation.Ginny recomposed herself.

"I think it's better for us to go outside okay?" she gestured Hermione outside the great hall.When they reached a more silent place to talk, hermione asked her the same question once again.

"Does everybody know it?" she asked once again.

"Know what?"

"That I'm in love with him!"she blurted out, sighing deeply.

"So you're admitting it?" Ginny shouted grabbing her hands and giggling in an almost Lavenderish way.

"Admitting what?" she asked, not understanding her friend's excitement.

"That you are madly in love with my brother!"she squeaked.

"Ginny I'm not MADLY in love with him.I just...love him, that's it, and it's so strange to say it aloud!And anyway, how can I deny that anymore?It all became so evident to me last year, and that was very harsh to realise!And now, I get to know that even Harry has figured that out, so, if Harry knows it, then everybody does!The whole school knows but Ron doesn't...this is so not fair..."

"Do you plan on telling him?"Ginny asked, completely ignoring her last statement.

"Tell him what?That his know-it-all friend is in love with him?He's going to laugh in my face thinking that's all a funny joke, that's what he's going to do!I'm telling you!Or even worse, he's going to avoid me once and forever, but I couldn't stand that anymore..."she said, resignedly closing her eyes .

"You're so blind Hermione!Why don't you see that my brother's completely lost too?He's so jealous of you that his mind can't think properly anymore!Not that it could before...but please, go talk to him, and if I'm wrong, you can hate me for the rest of your life.Agreed?"

"Agreed!I have a feeling I'm going to hate you a lot...but I'll do it.I just hope this is the right thing to do..."

"It is, believe me.Good luck then.He's at the lake!" she said while Hermione started to walk towards the common room.

Hermione growled loudly and headed to the lake.

The sky was a light shade of grey and the sun came glittering from behind the clouds, illuminating the deserted grounds here and there.Ron was lying down on the grass, his red hair flaming among the green and brown leaves, wind playing with his clothes.He was moving his hands up in the air, as though trying to clutch something that was moving right above his head, muttering to himself.Hermione got closer and looked down at him.

"What are you doing?You talking to yourself now?" she asked coldly.He stared at her for a few seconds.

"If you came here to spit at me you can go away!" he said, his tone changing slightly from annoyed to indifferent.

"And just think I came here to make peace with you, never been so wrong..."

But before she could leave, Ron grabbed one of her legs, as he was lying down, and Hermione consequently fell to the ground beside him.

"Are you crazy?I nearly broke my backbone!Why the..." but she lost her words, as when she opened her eyes after the fall, Ron had placed himself right on top of her, staring at her strictly into her eyes, a few inches from her face, blocking her attempt to stand up.

"What's wrong?" she urged him."People can see us!" she whispered, her cheeks turning a slight shade of red.

"So what?I don't care what other people say!" he stated, shrugging his shoulders.

Hermione froze.Was he Ron Weasley or what?He surely wouldn't have said that just a few months before, because if he really didn't care he would have worn that fantastic necklace his girlfriend had given him for Christmas last year, just to give an example...

Icy silence.No one dared to speak and Hermione couldn't stand his eyes studying her anymore.She turned her head on her right.

What an embarassing situation!She had come to talk to him, and there she was, lying down on the grass in the grounds of the school, with the boy of her life on top of her!Always the wrong thing at the wrong moment...

"Am I looking at you that way?" he asked grinning a bit as he saw Hermione's bewildered expression.She was taken aback by his snap question, she was obviously not expecting it, at least not at that moment, and he knew that.

Hermione tsimply hought he had forgotten what she had said that evening, or that he had not understood it at all!Anyway she couldn't.She just wasn't able to answer that question.She couldn't look into his eyes, because if she did, all her certainties would have shattered, and she wouldn't bear the missing contact between them...

"Well,I guess your silence means "yes"..." Ron said seriously.Hermione didn't answer."Look at me!If you can then look at me!" he shouted.

"I can't okay?You happy now?"

"I'm not happy!" he blurted out."Why is this happening?When did everything become so difficult between us?You don't talk to me, you can't even look into my eyes anymore and it looks like you can't even stand me being so close to you...It seems like every single time we're this close I'm just hurting you and I can't help it because I don't know why I'm hurting you!I don't know what to do, really...and I miss you..." he said lowering his voice.

Hermione was unable to think properly.What was all this sudden interest in their relationship?When had he ever been so involved in their relationship?She had always thought he didn't even notice if she was being indifferent or nervous whenever she was next to him!But what could she do about the fact that things were not the same anymore?

"You can't do anything, it's my problem and I have to deal with it.It has nothing to do with you!" she lied shamelessly.

"Just tell me what it is, we can deal with it together!"

"I can't, you wouldn't understand..." her voice quietened a little.

"At least try!" he begged her.

"No, and now let me go!" she said trying to push him out of the way, but he was too strong for her.

"I won't let you go until you have told me what's going on.I have time to waste you know...we can stay here all night long if you want..." he stated, crossing his arms and grinning slightly.

"Fine" she sighed. "I'll tell you everything, but, you have to promise me that you won't say a single word about what I'm going to say."

"I promise" he assured her, placing his right hand on his heart.

Ron helped her to stand up.She leaned against the beech and glanced at him who was removing the leaves from his hair, her heart pounding like mad in her chest.Everything was going to change and it was so confusing and terrifying at the same time.After all, it was the right thing to do, and looking at the actual state of her friendship with Ron, what could go worse?Sure, he could have understood it all by himself, too easy...Not even her last huge hints of the other day had been of some help!

"Okay...I'm gonna go straight to the point." she breathed deeply."Why do you have to be so childish sometimes?" there was a pause.She saw Ron's surprised expression, and thought that this was just the beginning...

"This is what really drives me crazy all the time!You always don't understand what I'm trying to say to you and it's so frustrating...It's taken you four years just to realise that I'm a girl, four years, and when you did, we obviously couldn't help but end up shouting at eachother, because you didn't understand by yourself what I wanted to tell you!Believe me, that night is still so clear in my mind I can even tell you what you said to me...Anyway, it was clearly evident to me that we both didn't want to discuss the matter anymore, and eventually you would stop being so jealous of Viktor,making fun of me whenever the subject was brought up.But that never happened, so I thought that maybe, if I asked you to come to the Christmas party with me...But then we both know what happened."

"You promised you would tell me everything.So go on!" he gestured her.

"You know what happened!That night.Everyone was celebrating except me, as I was crying in an empty classroom, trying to forget the image of you almost eating Lavender's face!The point is: why her Ron?Why so damn fast?" she shouted, looking deeply frustrated."God only knows how much I've been hating her last year.Everytime I saw you with her I wanted to run at you and slap you hard and give vent to all my anger!Do you understand?It's taken me years to pluck up the courage and ask you to come to the party with me, and what did you do?You felt free to kiss another girl in front of my face!There was not a day, not one, that I didn't feel like shit seeing you touching her, kissing her, because I wanted to be touched by you like that...It was me who wanted to feel the touch of your hand!" big tears were now rolling her cheeks, and Ron looked simply paralysed.

"I'm sinking deeper and deeper Ron.Whenever you're near me, I can't help but think about all this over and over, but it's not fair, for the both of us.I'm not myself anymore Ron, and that's why I told you those things before!I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have..." she said wiping her tears and regaining her composure.

"Maybe we can discuss about it later on, if you want.You'll think about it and then we'll talk okay?And I'm really sorry to run away like this after having dropped this heavy bomb on you, but I'm so confused and I need some time for me." she stated, weakly smiling at him.She put her hair behind her left ear and lowered her chin, not daring to depart from that place...

She could see Ron approaching and his hand leaning against the beech, right beside her face .Now she could feel the heat of his body invading and touching every fibre of her body.

"You promised Ronald!" she warned him,throwing him a worried look.

"Hey, I'm not talking..." he whispered leaning closer and closer.

Hermione's head was spinning, her heart pounding so loudly in her chest she thought Ron could hear it.And even though she didn't want to glance up at him, their eyes locked, and she found no other things to say, as the guy standing in front of her, the guy she thought she knew, was looking at her in a way she would have never expected him to do.

Now she knew what was going to happen, she just knew it!The kiss she had dreadfully hoped for years, was becoming reality, and while she looked at Ron bending down on her, she only hoped he was not doing it just because he wanted to make it up with her!If this was his purpose, the whole thing was working just fine...

On the other side, Ron was hoping his brave but desperate last attempt could bring positive aspects in his life, but his hope was at a last step."Will I lose her?Will she behave like Lavender?Oh no, she won't behave like her, absolutely not!And what will she say?"

His mind was a blank, and the fact of having her just for himself made him feel important.He knew that if he simply gave up on her, he wouldn't be able to live at Hogwarts two seconds more, that his life would be far away from her at least for fifty years.He hoped it was all a terrible temptation, but it wasn't.Yet he couldn't understand why her...

Again, it was not a moment to waste thinking, and with a never before seen energy, he kissed her.

Yes, he was kissing Hermione, Hermione Granger, his best friend, the bossy girl he yelled at every single day.It couldn't be possible, but still, it all seemed so right.Of all the girls, he would have never thought of kissing her.Well, maybe once or twice he had...

Anyway, the what-am-I-doing moment seemed far-off now...

He lightly touched her lips, and Hermone could taste his insecurity, but then their mouths came into real contact, and Ron moved slowly from her upper lip to her lower lip, getting more and more relaxed as he felt Hermione collapse under his kiss.

Though he had been practising last year, his kiss was very shy, very inexpert, almost embarassing.Besides, the girl he was kissing now, was all different type of girl, and the feelings involved...

It was all incredibly comfortable, and when his tongue found his way through her parted lips, Hermione could no longer resist him, and started touching his hair with her fingers, allowing him to make it up with her...

Despite the initial clumsyness of that kiss, everything seemed so perfect, bound to be so, as if waiting for years had magically made it all more powerful, more devastatingly irresistible.He placed his right hand on her waist and slowly pulled her against his body.The atmosphere was getting hotter, and they were both starting to feel agreeably dizzy...

But this couldn't last forever, and a slight cough made them quickly part.They both looked tremendously weird.

They turned and saw Harry and Ginny staring at them, looking rather amused.

"Er...We're sorry to interrupt you guys, but we have to go to class and we're late, so..." said Harry, trying not to show his amusement.

"Okay.Let's go!" Hermione instantly answered back,reddening more violently than Ron and evidently showing how much that situation made her feel embarassingly uncomfortable.She dared not look any of her friends in the eyes, and after a moment in which she apparently thought of looking at Ron but failed miserably, she headed stubbornly to the castle, willingly avoiding to glance up at Ginny.

Everyone had noticed her unexpected reaction.Ron though, was the one who looked more dumbfounded.He tried hard to understand what had gone wrong, but he came up with nothing, and he could notice the malicious and meaning looks Harry and his sister were exchanging just in front of him.

"Oh stop it, you two!You're unbearable..." he shouted angrily, but before one of them could say something he added "Listen, Idon't want you to mention this again.Got it?"he asked looking thunderous.

"Yeah."Harry and Ginny answered back, though not trying to hide their sniggering all their way to the castle...


	8. Chapter 8

I hope that the incredibly long seventh chapter didn't scare you...I know it was very long but it just had to be so, hope you liked it...I think this chapter will deceive you a little as you'll think "Now they have to be together!" but it's not so easy guys...Love is never so easy, especially when we're dealing with Ron and Hermione, you should know that!I already said too much, so enjoy and review!

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Lesson had started and Hermione was late.Harry and Ron had decided to sit at the far end of the room, just beside the door, taking one seat even for Hermione, in case she decided to show up...Mr Binns' voice was echoing distantly in the silent room, and everyone seemed very sleepy when the door burst open and Hermione emerged from it, looking rather shaken, almost upset.Everyone in the room turned their heads to see what was happening.Professor Binns did too.

"Miss Granger...May I ask you what detained you from coming to lesson today?" he asked her expectantly.

"I'm really sorry professor.I promise it won't happen again!" she answered lowering her chin.

"I'm sure it won't Miss Granger.Now, if you want to take a seat I would like to go on with my lesson!" he added with a bitter tone that didn't hide the fact that he was really annoyed about this interruption.

Hermione nodded and nervously glanced at Harry and Ron.She knew they would have taken a seat for her , but she couldn't sit next to him, she still wasn't prepared for that, she still couldn't stand to talk about what had happened, not now.So she quickly made her way towards the front row, and sat next to Neville.

Harry saw Ron's eyes following Hermione like crazy and then returning on his blank piece of parchment looking distressed.Harry nudged him in the ankle.

"What?" he asked sharply.

Harry gestured him to lower his voice, as professor Binns was looking rather irritated in their direction, then he pointed at Hermione and looked back at Ron with quizzical eyes.Ron shrugged his shoulders and stared at Hermione once again.Harry nudged him again.

"What now?" he repeated, looking almost on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"Come on Ron!Do you want a written request?I'm waiting for you to tell me what happened, what's so strange about this?You look so weird!" he asked trying to catch his friend's eyes.But Ron didn't seem to realise that Harry was really talking to him.

"Ron!What's wrong?" he asked, violently shaking Ron's arm.

"Oh yeah...sorry mate!It's just that I don't know what's going on with her and this whole situation is totally freaking me out!Why is she acting like this?I thought that, you know, what we did, I thought she was okay with it.I mean, she seemed pretty involved in what we were doing...you know..." he struggled to find the right words.

"I know, Iknow what you mean.I saw you down there and yes, you two seemed...pretty involved!" he stated beaming with pleasure."So, how was it?"

"It was...you know..."he mumbled, apparently thinking of a way to describe that kiss.He sighed."It was great!It really was mate, and I'd never expect it to be as it was.Actually I'd never expected it to happen at all..."

"Well, I had a feeling it would happen soon!"Harry said with a broad smile."What dis she say then?"

"She came by the lake and pratically explained me all the things that happened last year and even before that: the fact that she was jealous of Lavender, that she's sick of me being jealous of Viktor...Then she said that she likes me.Well, that she _liked_ me..." Ron corrected himself sadly.

"She said that?" Harry asked incredoulously.

"She didn't actually said that, but anyway, the whole concept was that."

Harry patted Ron on the back, not knowing what to say to cheer his friend up, and they started pretending to listen again.Ron glanced at Hermione and noticed that she was drumming her fingers on the table, nervously biting her lower lip, not paying the least bit of attention to what professor Binns was saying.Something was going on.What was she thinking about?He would have given anything just to know that.

When the bell rang, Ron hoped he could find a moment to talk to her, but Hermione was talking animatedly with professor Binns about his interesting lesson, evident sign that she wasn't at all intended to talk to him as she had not listened to him.He looked at her expectantly and then disappeared out of the classroom.

Ron had to endure the whole package of divination before hoping that Hermione would talk to him, but she evidently wasn't ready to face him yet, and while he was eating more unwillingly than usual, he felt the knot inside his throat intensify when she didn't even show up in the great hall for dinner.

Harry and Ginny exchanged meaningful looks at the other end of the table.

He was sick of this.He had thought of the consequencies before kissing her, yet he felt that what he'd done was right.

He gulped down a flass of pumpkin juice, flunged the glass on the table causing everyone in the great hall to stare, and darted out of the room, roughly pushing all the first years aside.He flung himselft hrough the empty corridors, peering inside every room.He had to find Hermione.

At the next room, he stopped abruptly in front of the door, finding it rather familiar.He slowly opened the door and saw Hermione sitting on the desk, gazing at her feet and not seeming aware of his presence in the room at all, her face contraced in what seemed to be a very serious expression.

Knowing that she surely wasn't going to say anything, Ron silently sat next to her on the desk, and spoke first.

"Hey", he said clearing his throat.

"Hey"she answered back sounding a bit nervous and still not looking at him.

"So, I guess we should talk about...you know...what we have done...I mean...that we-"he stammered fast.

"If it scares you so much to say that we kissed, or better that _you_ kissed me-"she added forcefully though blushing violently, but then stopped."Listen Ronald, why do you even bother to tell me that we need to talk if it's very clear to understand that you don't have the guts to talk about it?You don't wanna do it, and neither do I!"

"Well, you have been sufficiently loquacious...But I'm not scared of saying it!"he said wanting to sound completely at ease with himself.

"Really?"she asked incredulously, almost defiantly.

"I kissed you.Did you hear me?I said I kissed you, and for the record, _you_,were kissing me back, if I'm not mistaken.Plus, you said things that-"

"That cannot hide the fact that I've been dreading for that kiss for ages?That I preferred aching with pain, crying for hours in my room, rather than see you with Lavender?I'm not saying that you're wrong Ron!" she shouted at him, looking both livid and frustrated.Ron simply looked impressed,hit by those words, then he started to look about him, lost in thoughts.

"We were here last year remember?" he asked her after a few seconds of complete silence.

"Yeah" she answered weakly.

"You were here with Harry and I came in with Lavender after the match"he continued, almost reliving those memories."It seemes ages ago but it's only months, and honestly, I have to admit that the moment I set foot in here that night Hermione, I'd have liked more to bump into Malfoy rather than you." he said smiling."Do you know what I mean?It's taken me ages to realise this, but in that precise moment, I knew that I could not even look at you because you were feeling betrayed.The funniest thing is that this thought never crossed my mind until...I don't know...until I almost died last year!And I'm sorry, because if I had just plucked up the courage to figure this all out, you wouldn't have wasted your time with me.I've been causing you a lot of pain and trouble and for that I'm sorry." he saw Hermione twitching tensely her fingers.

"Look, I just wanted to know how you feel about what we did, because I'm really confused.I felt something between us, there was something, and it was not just the kiss, you know what I mean..."

"Ron please no.I can't do this now.I'm not ready yet!" she plunged her face in her hands.

"If you're not ready yet Hermione, then why did you kiss me?Because you were there too, and I felt you...But maybe I'm imagining things that didn't happen!" he shrugged his shoulders.

"No, no, you're not imagining things!I was really kissing you, I truthfully was!It's just that-"

And as she was about to explain everything to him, Neville got into the room.

"Er...I'm sorry to interrupt you guys, but, I was looking for you Hermione.It's just that I need some help on the thing we were working on the other day, you know...I'll wait outside!" he said promptly, leaving the room noisily.

The noise of the door closing behind their backs amplified the increasing silence betweeen them.

"So, what's that you're working on with him?" he asked raising his left eyebrow, letting a suspicious look appear on his face.

"It's none of your business!" she immediately defended herself, folding her arms.

"Oh yes, it is!Did you and Neville already kissed or what?" his voice echoed violently in the room.

"Stop it!I'm sick of your your jealousy Ron, I'm totally sick of it!And I'm tired of being the one who gets hurt, the one _you_ hurt.Tthe one who hopes...Look at you Ron!You've become a man, and this reality scares me to death, because I know what it means.So do me a favour, don't ever mention that kiss again because it was just a terrible mistake, and it's clearly evident to the both of us that we are not able to survive this together!" her tearful, reproachful eyes looked away from him and he suddenly understood that Hermione was far from giving him a true answer.

He knew she had kissed him because she had wanted to, but if she was so determined to deny it, what could he do?

"So I see, this is the way it's going to be from now on uh?" He sighed. "I don't understand you Hermione, I really don't, but I accept it." He paused. "Just let me tell you that you're not the only one who gets hurt"

And with that he left the room, leaving for the hundredth time, a crying Hermione dealing with the consequences of her actions and words.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey guys I'm back!I've been having a little bit of problems with my connection but now I'm officially back and my last chapter will arrive soon...Next week I'll go to London(Finally!)so I hope you're all having a good summer so far...before university begins!bye bye

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In the next couple of days the atmosphere in the trio seemed to have regained the typical aspects of always.Hermione and Ron spent the whole time bickering as usual and nothing seemed to have happened or changed between them.

Harry though, perceived that something was going on: Ron's reserve on the matter, his cold and inscrutable expressions, the deepest sadness he had ever seen pierce Hermione's eyes...Ron could see that sadness too, and he also knew where it came from, but he didn't want the subject to surface and upset the balance they had reached even if it was just pure appearence.They both needed this wall of appearance if they wanted to survive.

The unforgivable contact of the other day had left a terrible void they had to deal with every day, but they knew it was not so easy to fill it up.Something had been stolen from them, and even though they knew what was missing, they were doing nothing to have it back.And this was only making things worse...

The missing eye contact, cold words flying like icy darts willing desperately to reach the spot, right to the centre.

One december evening, just before dinner, Hermione was wandering through the school corridors, wanting some time away from the incredible noise of the great hall, also unwilling to eat.It was getting easier for her to feel like a bird in its cage in those days.

Just when she was starting to feel a little better, Ron and Lavender came walking in the opposite direction, talking cheeerily like two old friends.For a moment she really thought of changing direction, but then changed her mind as she would have probably been seen doing it.

And a moment later, she was reliving those days in her 6th year, when nothing seemed to be going right and she spent her days locked up in her room, trying to erase everything she felt for him.She felt like something had been sucked from her, but this time it was not because of the girl who was walking beside him, and even though she knew nothing was going on, still, suddenly she couldn't breathe properly...

Ron realised that Hermione was there, walking up to them, and his expression went completely blank.The air froze, and the silence was broken only by the sound of their footsteps, echoing in the distance.It was as if a chilly mist had magically pierced the castle.

Hermione was afraid of looking at him, afraid of what her reaction would be if she kept watching them, but she didn't know how to restrain the tears that were now filling her eyes.So when she was just in front of them, Lavender greeted her with the unmistakable smell of her "I'm the sexy woman" fragrance, and as for Ron, he looked directly at her, watching her timid smile fading away from her face as she passed them.She had intelligently avoided to talk to him.

And now she had to run away from there, as if a fire had been lit inside her.

She slowly turned right, out of eyeshot, and began to run madly, it didn't matter where.Her footsteps now echoing very noisily all around her, she kept running, tears rolling frantically and stupidly down her cheeks, uncontrolled and angry.She feared Ron had seen her, that she had broken their unspeakable vow, that she had touched the botton of it.The cold wall and floor made her shiver, through the sobs she could stop no more.

Ron had caught sight of her glittery eyes, and understood that _that_ was the signal he had waited for days to come.Hermione was giving up.

He stooped abruptly, making Lavender look back curiously but somehow apprehensively at him.

"Lavender listen, I think I should-"

"I know, I know...Go and find her, she needs you.Don't worry, I won't mind" she smiled shrugging her shoulders.

"Thank you, you've been really understanding with me and-"

"Yeah, I know!Now Move, hurry up!"

And without further words, he started his search for Hermione, running at high speed, bumping into Hermione on his way.

He found her sitting on the floor of the 5th floor corridor, her face buried in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably, her shoulders shaking like mad.When she heard his footateps approaching, her sobs stopped suddenly and she raised her head attentively and saw him watching her with a worried expression sunk in his face.She widened her eyes, red for the crying, and quickly stood up, hiding her face under her big bushy hair.

"Do you think I'm stupid or what?" he shouted causing her to jump backwards."Hermione I know what's going on!And I don't want you to cry over this because of what you saw right now , that's the stupidest thing you could do!"

"No, it's not!You don't have the slightest idea how I'm feeling right now!It's as if time hadn't changed a thing all around me, and I'm the only one who's been carrying this dark burden.Because it's almost been a year now, and the only thing I'm seeing is the thing that scares me and destroys me the most...and it always begins when I see you with her again..." she paused for a brief moment."Listen...I don't know what's going on with with her Ron, and I sincerely don't want to know...but...just let me know when we can start acting normal again because this farce is just making me mad and I can't bear it anymore!"she shouted violently, tears rolling bitterly down her cheeks.

"So are we back there?Are we back to that?What about the past couple of days?They happened, you know?"

"I know that they happened!And they were wonderfoul!But they were also very irresponsible..."

"So you kiss me and then you want to go back to your normal life with your perfect happy friend Ronald at your side like it's always been?Was that your plan?Was that a test that I didn't pass?"

"Have you been paying attention to anything that's been happening?"

"I guess not.I guess I misread all of those signals!"

"I guess you did." she answered bitterly as she walked away from him.But he caught up to her.

"Would you just stay with me?" he said truthfully.

"Stay with you?What for?Look at us.We're already fighting!"she shrugged her shoulders looking almost resigned.

"That's what we do.We fight.You tell me when I'm being a silly prat and I tell you when you're being an arrogant bossy miss know-it-all.It's not gonna be easy.It's gonna be really hard and we're gonna have to work at this every day.But I wanna do that because I..." he suddenly stopped, looking straight into her eyes."But then...It doesn't even matter what I want because I don't even know what _you _want anymore!"

"Well I do!I want this unbearable situation between us to end, I want to punish myself because I'm still in love with you, I want to say things to you to make all of this work out.And I want you to kiss me, from the moment you touched me for the very first time.Did you know that?"

And without further notice, he caught hold of her wrists and slammed her hard against the wall, pausing just a few centimetres from her face.

"I was waiting for you to tell me!" he whispered, and kissed her violently.He reached her hands with his and entangled their fingers, pushing Hermione even harder against the wall, causing her to moan with pleasure.It was so good to feel that kind of contact after those empty cold days, it was as if something had finally burst out from the two of them and was gradually reaching the surface...

And as the kiss was gradually becoming softer, sweeter, it became clear to the both of them, from the way in which they were connecting at that moment, that now there really was no way back.Even Hermione had given up at last.


	10. Chapter 10

Hi everyone! I know I haven't been posting for what looks like ages and I'm sorry…Let's say that I still had to figure out the best way to end this fanfic and I think it's not that bad! Maybe Deathly Hallows helped me a little bit with writing the ending…Well, I hope you'll enjoy my last chapter!Bye

A silent drizzle was falling on Hogwarts that night, a cold wind blowing furiously among the trees. Still, the moon was clearly visible in the sky, surrounded by a black wall of clouds. Hermione lifted the scarf up to her mouth, her nose almost numb with cold, cheeks flushed and eyes bright and excited.

She reached the quidditch pitch in a rush, just in time to see him coming out of the dressing rooms, hair still damp, laughing at something Harry appeared to have said a few moments before. When the team noticed Hermione standing still a few feet from them the laughter abruptly broke down. Everyone fell silent. Ron's eyes were fixed on hers, but Hermione was looking at everyone but him. He looked at his teammates and they immediately knew that they had to leave without uttering a single word.

Now they were all alone, the wind caressing their silhouettes in the dark of the night. Hermione finally lifted her head up and was surprised to see him staring at her with a malicious smile on his face that said "I know why you're here". She rolled her eyes absentmindedly, looking away because unable to hold his gaze but smiling in spite of herself. Ron walked towards her, stopping a few feet from were she stood. Then, placing his hands on her back, he pushed her towards him until their bodies were touching each other almost completely. They fell silent.

"What's wrong Hermione?" he asked her finally.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong…"

"Then why are you here? I thought we said we'd meet in the common room, so…"

"So what?"

"So there must be something going on or you wouldn't have come out this late on your own. But of course, maybe I'm wrong."

"No you're right. I was waiting for you in the common room, but then I couldn't help but feel a little restless, sitting there doing nothing except reading the same three lines over and over again. So I came here to…"

"To do what?" he asked raising his eyebrows.

"Well I don't know really."

"To kiss me under this splendid full moon maybe?" He suggested smiling confidently.

Hermione smiled too, reminded of what had happened a few weeks before. They stared at each other. Then Hermione grabbed the collar of his cloak, forcing Ron to bend down on her. She stopped him when his mouth was just a few inches from hers and he groaned in protest. She smiled playfully, raised herself on tiptoes, watched his mouth longingly and bit his lower lip, starting to kiss him in a way she had never done before. Ron was certainly not expecting this…at least not from Hermione, who backed away from him as if she had been burnt, blushing violently and covering her face with her hands.

"I'm so sorry Ron! I don't know what got into me…" she said. But Ron was drawing her close to him again.

"Sorry for what? For doing just what you felt like doing and for making me feel so turned on right now? You don't want to know what you're making me think of…"he smiled maliciously. at her.

"Ron!!!" she reprimanded him looking both outraged and pleasantly embarrassed.

"Come on Hermione! You know I would never hurt you in any way!" he said sounding a bit offended.

"I know that! It's just that when we're this close I don't know what I'm doing anymore. Look what I've just done!"

"And was that bad? Because I don't really think it was…"he smiled.

"I don't know Ron...but if I'm acting this way right now, what do you think will happen next time?"

"I can't wait to see what will happen next time..."he smiled again.

"Ron please be serious! It's not normal to fell so addicted to someone else…I can't concentrate during classes anymore, and it takes me hours to finish my homework! And this is because I keep thinking of you, your eyes, your mouth, how great your hands feel on my skin…and…and this is bad! Don't you see?"

"If this is bad, if you really think this is bad, then you don't want to know how I feel when I'm with you. Believe me, you don't want to know…I never thought I could be so powerfully attracted to someone in my life."

"I thought it impossible too, at least until you kissed me, and after that it was like a free fall. It all went much worse…But if you hadn't kissed me…" she began to wonder.

"Well I kissed you! And now you know as well as I do that we can't be parted!" he said matter-of-factly.

"Who says that?" she challenged him. "I could simply ignore everything that happened between us and go on with my life, fall in love with an other guy an forget everything about you, never wanting to kiss you again."

"As if you could Hermione! You know very well that you can't forget that part of me, it's not something that you erase from your heart, not even with magic. The way in which you and me connect is just perfect, we don't need proof! I mean, you know how you feel when my hand touches your face, when my lips touch your skin and …"

He kissed her, letting himself go, wanting her to feel the same way, so incredibly confused by those perfect moments they spent together. But then Hermione pushed him away, breathing heavily, trying to regain her rationality.

"Ok Ron I get it okay? But you can't do this to me!" she cried.

"Do what?" he asked a little confused.

"Making me feel like this! Like I can't live without you being so close to me, so close to my heart…I mean, how can you be so sure of what you feel? How do you know that this is real and not a simple and silly crush?" But she paused. There was an other question that she wanted to ask…"How do I know that our kisses are different from the ones you shared with Lavender?"

"You know they're not the same thing! I guess that this is your problem, isn't it? Lavender all over again…"

Hermione fell silent. The hole in her heart was still there, even if she thought it had vanished, and not even the seriousness she could see in Ron's eyes could at that moment convince her that what she was hearing from him was the truth. Her heart had failed so many times and she couldn't trust it anymore.

"Listen Hermione, I know how you feel, but there have been a lot of things going, and I realised that there's only one thing that is still the same after all these years. It's the way I feel whenever I see you or you're next to me. Nothing can change that, and surely not Lavender. You're the person that keeps me real Hermione, don't you understand that? I can't lose you…"

"But why didn't you say all these things to me before? I thought I was being pushed away…and rejected…and…betrayed! Do you know how that feels? I don't think so! And now…..you're telling me amazing things, and you almost look like you're going to tell me that…"

"That I love you? Because that is exactly was I was going to say." He said almost in a whisper. "Hermione…you know I love you, you've known it all along, and I know that keeping this from you has hurt you more than I could ever imagine. If you could only forgive me for all the time we've wasted!"

"I wish I could just say the same things to you Ron, but it's not so simple! All this time, the only thing that kept _me _real has been thinking that you couldn't possibly love me, because if that was true, all those lies I had built for my heart to stop ache would shatter." She clutched her heart and a few tears ran down her face. "I thought you barely knew that I existed!" she cried at last.

"This is not true!!!" he cried.

"Don't you understand? If I listen to my heart right now, all my defences are going to be useless and all the feelings that I've been hiding for so long will come out and it won't be possible for me to take them back. I will be exposed and weak. Then what will happen if something goes wrong and we just split up?"

"Who knows Hermione…maybe we'll split up, or maybe we'll get married! I mean who cares? Don't you understand that this is about living what we have now? Maybe it took me some more time to figure things out but you can't blame me for that. All I want right now is to have you by my side, nothing's more important than that. And I promise you that I won't let this happen again. Hermione…you just have to trust me!"

Hermione seemed to think about it for a few seconds but then she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him with such enthusiasm that Ron almost lost his balance and had to grip Hermione as firmly as he could not to fall on the ground. The black clouds had finally vanished.

When they broke apart after several minutes, they were both smiling.

"Don't ever let me go" Hermione whispered in his ear. "Because if you do, I swear to God I will kill you Ronald Weasley!" and she kissed him again.


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